The Apocrypha
by sniperrifle001
Summary: After Colony 195, after nearly two centuries in space, the two factions of humanity start to drift apart. And with this rift is born conflict. A recount of the events during the original series with a more in depth human focus.
1. Chapter 0

The Apocrypha  
By Nick Zou

Chapter 0

He took the keys and unlocked the display case. Behind it laid a 17th  
century flintlock pistol. He took the gun in his hands and polished the old  
metal with a handkerchief he always carried around. The distorted  
reflection of his face in the metal accented by the sunlight glancing  
off of the surface was only distorted by the fact that it was his  
reflection he was gazing into.

He hated himself. Secretly of course, he could never let his father  
know what he thought about himself and the family name. But to him,  
the idea of pacifism was completely and utter nonsense. And if his  
father was truly a pacifist then was this instrument of death doing in  
his personal display case? In any case, he had stopped trying to  
understand his father long ago.

The next item he removed from the display case was an old antique  
ceremonial rapier. He felt the cold of the metal scabbard emit and  
penetrate the thin layer of silk that hugged and formed around his  
hands. The sound of the metal on the inside clashing against the  
scabbard. But as the blade's vibrations came to a fast halt the faint  
sound of footsteps from down the hallway grew louder.

"You plan to go even though I told you no." The voice emerged from the  
hallway, his body followed soon after.  
"Who are you to stop me." He replied.  
"I am the King…" The voice of his father resonated in his ear.  
"And what am I?" He asked.  
"Don't make this hard. And don't ask me questions you are neither  
interested in nor even want to here the answer to." His father replied.

He did not respond. He only tucked the gun into his holster and  
attached the sword to his belt.

"Those are mine actually." His father said with a light hearted chuckle.  
"I'll bring them back." He replied.  
"I'm tired of playing this game. I'm not going to beg." The King said.  
"Good, I wouldn't want you to." He replied.  
"What do you want me to do?" His father asked.  
"You are the King." He said.  
"I am the King." His father responded.  
"Just let me go." He said.  
"If you go…" His father began to say.  
"What?" He replied with a sting in his voice.  
"You will return a traitor, disgraced with the crimes of treason… or,  
you will return a hero, but in confines of a body bag." He finished.

He didn't say anything. He just took the white porcelain helmet from  
the display case and held under his arm. With his other hand he  
adjusted his neck cloth and looked at himself one more time with the  
mirror at the back of the display case. His father looked at him in  
bewilderment.

"Don't be a fool." His father said to him.  
"Why? You never used it." He replied as he adjusted the helmet.  
"Where's Milliardo?"  
"Don't bring him into this." His father replied fiercely as he grabbed  
his arm.  
"I was just going to say good-bye." He replied with just as sharp a  
voice and wrenched his arm away from his father's grip.

He left the room with as much composure as he possibly could at that  
point. He walked down the hallway hoping that his father would not  
follow him. He stopped at the door at the end of the hallway. The door  
was locked. He gathered up his courage and knocked on the door. After  
a few seconds of silence, he heard the lock click. The door drifted open.  
A young man greeted him at the door. A six year old boy greeted him.  
He stepped into his room. There he had been attempting to read his  
father's old books. As to his success, that was still a challenge he  
had yet to overcome.

"Brother." The young boy said.  
"Milliardo." He replied.  
"You are leaving, aren't you?" He asked.

He smiled at his younger brother. And not having any words for him he  
handed him the porcelain helmet.

"This is father's." Young Milliardo said.  
"This is yours now." He said. "I sincerely hope that you will never  
need it, but should the occasion arise, do not hesitate to use it."

Milliardo looked at the glossy helmet and moved his hands across its  
frictionless surface, confused as to is meaning and what to do with it.

He watched his little brother play with the helmet. He smiled and  
without words he decided it would be best if he just left him to his  
own devices. After all, he had his battles to fight. He left the room  
silently and took one last look at him.

"Oh, Milliardo." He said before he left.  
"Yes?" Young Milliardo replied.  
"Relena, take care of her. It is up to you now." He said.

Milliardo silently nodded. He smiled at his young brother as he closed  
the door behind him.

* * *

The controls shuttered in his hand as the shockwaves up the constant  
shelling of the Earth Alliance Advance Guard hit the coastal defences.  
His mobile suit was slowly failing. As successful as his defences  
were, they were just too little and too undersupplied to defend  
against the forces of the Earth Alliance. He was running low on  
ammunition and soon his men would have to fall back in land. It was  
not a battle that he could win. He could only hope to do as much  
damage as possible to the enemy before dying with his sword in hand.  
If only to make a statement to the Earth Alliance.

"Captain. We are being overwhelmed." A fellow pilot said over the  
radio. "The western flank as been broken. Our vanguard is falling  
apart. They are planning to land on the beaches now."  
"Very well, fall back, tell everyone to fall back. Abandon the coastal  
bunkers, fall back into the forest. We will engage them their."

After several minutes, his forces slowly started to ease backwards  
until the beach was all but undefended except for him and a dozen  
mobile suits of his own guard still trying to hold the last of the  
vanguard and the beach.

"Captain, we must go. The army has safely retreated in land." His  
second in command reported.  
"Go, I'll take care of them." He said back into the radio.  
"Captain!" The soldier replied.  
"I'll hold them back while you guys retreat, I'll be meet you guys in  
a few minutes. Go!" He shouted as he slammed the radio off. "You'll  
take this kingdom! Not while I am still here!"

The shelling stopped. He moved the shield from the front of his mobile  
suit only to be greeted Leos that had landed on the beaches and were  
now moving towards him. He grabbed this beam sabre from his side and  
waited for their assault.

* * *

"C'mon Relena! You can do it!" Milliardo said as he clapped his hands  
and crouched a few feet away from his little sister.

Relena looking at him blankly slowly pushed herself up to her feet and  
after a few small wobbles she found her balance, smiled, and leaped  
into Milliardo's arms.

"Good job Relena!" Milliardo said as he held his little sister in his  
arms as she wiggle and giggled with joy.

From his office window, King Peacecraft looked at his children  
frolicking in his garden. There was not a care in the world in their  
minds. Everything he had ever hoped was here in his house. His wife  
Katrina was overseeing the dinner party they were planning that night.  
It was all so perfect. And he only saw it now, when it was too late.  
Why did the Alliance have to ruin all of this? He couldn't understand  
them at all. Maybe it was because of this, they decided that the  
Kingdom was a threat. And it was precisely because he didn't  
understand the Alliance that prompted them to attack. In any case, the  
Kingdom simply did not have the means to defend themselves against  
such forces.

And as for his oldest son, the rebellious one, he supposed that every  
family had a rebellious child. He was hoping that it would be Relena.  
Someday, he hoped that it would be her that would be sneaking out with  
the boys past curfew, or spending too much money shopping. He never  
would've guessed it would be his firstborn son. And then there was  
Milliardo, the middle, the responsible one. Milliardo had such faith  
and admiration for his older brother. Why couldn't he understand that?  
If the Kingdom were to fall, why couldn't he just spend the last hours  
with the company of family rather than fighting a hopeless battle on  
an unforgiving field.

King Peacecraft hesitated. He could not put it off forever. He could  
feel the Earth Alliance edging in closer every moment. He picked up  
his phone. A moment later a familiar voice rang in his ear.

"Hello? Darlian? This is Peacecraft. About the arrangements with my  
children…" He said.


	2. Chapter 1

The Apocrypha  
By Nick Zou

"Gnosti seauton." An ancient greek aphorism echoed in the cold halls of the hangar. "Know thyself, know thy strengths and thy weaknesses, but most importantly, know thy limits."

A boy, bodily age of no more than fifteen, ignored the warnings of an old man nearing closer to senility everyday. He sat underneath the cold steel of a mammoth that was soon to be his and while he has worked on this work of art for just over a year, he felt no attachment to it. He felt no love, no pride in it. If anything he could only feel resentment for this was this machine, was the sort of deux-ex-machina that paralleled his own soul. A soul, yet another useless and entirely worthless concept.

At least to him, at least that's what he thought of his own. Never too quick to judge others despite the fact that his training allowed him to do otherwise, he spent most of his days within himself, searching. Searching for an answer to a question that had not yet been made clear to him. Even in a crowd he felt no less lonely than the confines of his single roomed cell that he called "home". At least that was the closest word he could use to describe it.

Others included, jail, confinement, even punishment. But none of those were quite as fitting yet no less true. As he finished the last modification, he shut down the laptop beside him and disconnected the cables from his new machine. He then closed the hatch and secured the outer plating back onto the beast to make it whole again.

"Okay, Doctor, fire it up." Heero yelled loud enough so that the environmental microphones would pick it up and transmit his voice to the next room.

Without any acknowledgement the machine almost miraculously turned on and the thrusters at the back burst into full glory instantaneously knocking the air right out of Heero's lungs.

"Know thyself." The voice came again. "Know thy limits. Do you know why Chilon, Pythagoras, and Socrates said these things?"

"I'm assuming their reasoning was exactly the same as Sun Tzu's?" Heero said as he starred at the blasting engine of his new machine.

"Yes, and you are not listening. This is your limit, don't push it, you'll only hurt yourself." The voice came back. "No changes. Engine output is exactly the same."

"Try cranking the engine to full power." Heero suggested undeterred by the lack of results.

"What difference does it make?" The voice asked.

"Exponential power increase, you should know, you designed the damn thing. The output is probably negligible at this level, but will become detectable at higher outputs." Heero answered.

A few seconds later the engine shut down and the glow and the warmth that the engines created dissipated. Seconds after the hangar doors slid open. An old man with long hair and eyes covered by ocular implants entered.

"Heero, I know you are nervous." Doctor J said as he approached Heero. "You can't prepare for everything… That's just the nature of life… and of war. All you can do is trust in yourself and your own abilities. Know thyself."

Heero said nothing, he had nothing to say.

"Now, go get some sleep, Wing is as good as he is going to get. You launch tomorrow." Doctor J said.

***

Gundam Wing: The Apocrypha

By Nick Zou

Chapter 1

Time slows down.

It always does as the adrenaline bursts through his veins. He could see it in the faces of his teammates, he could feel it on his own. They cleared the corner. That was the easy part, he ran down the hall at full speed in perfect position. He held his assault rifle to his face, he aligned his shot with his eye. He was trained for this, he breathed this, he lived this. As the adrenaline receded and his heightened sense of things retreated he knew that it will not last long. And he was right.

It was his turn to clear the next corner. He slowed down and hit the wall with his back hard, harder than he intended to. But the pain was not enough to distract him. He ran to the corner and a blanket of relief fell on him. The hallway was clear. His teammate tapped him on the back signalling, they were ready to move down the hall. This was not his first time, nor would it be his last but the rush of a raid would always be there so long as he worked in the military; death or at least injury was never far away.

The room was clear. This no one was in it, only what they left behind. What they chose to leave behind. It was garbage, worthless information, nothing that the Alliance military didn't already know about and nothing to surprise the commanders back at Special Ops.

His commanding officer approached him. "Well it looks like there's nothing of any value here. Damn it, we were so close. The fucking teases. Look what they left behind."

His commanding officer handed him a blueprint, visible large, but only a single page document. He looked over it.

"Is this their secret project?" He asked as he examined the document. It seemed like a ground breaking discovery, he couldn't understand why his commanding officer was not impressed.

"Look closer" His commanding officer said as he lit up a cigarette.

He understood. Though the design seemed original, none of the technical specs matched, everything from thruster output, to response time, to computer OS, it was all bullshit.

"These are the technical specs for the OZ Leo." He said.

"Yeah, Wing Zero my ass. What's more, though this frame is new information, nothing else can be trusted or verified. This is just the enemy toying with us." His commanding officer said with a hint of admiration in his voice.

"At least we have a picture of an internal frame." He replied.

"What does it matter, all the textual information is nonsense, we don't even know how tall it is." His commanding officer replied. "As far as I'm concerned this image means nothing, it could just be a hoax. Plus an internal frame isn't going to help us identify anything."

"Still, the brass will want to see this." He replied trying to place meaning into the work they did today.

"If only to appease Romefeller. The Alliance doesn't take this threat seriously at all." His commanding officer said. "Walker, clear up this area, we're taking it all with us, L1 smells like shit. Get photos of everything we can't take. And despite everything, you did good work."

"Yes sir."

***

"Engine output nominal, solar winds nominal, trajectory locked in. This is Wing Gundam, pilot: Heero Yuy, commencing Operation Meteor." Heero input the password into the main console.

Wing's thrusters fired up and slowly started to drift as the hangar internal doors opened. A few seconds later after depressurization the main external hatch opened. The "clear" light turned green and at that moment Heero kicked the thrusters into full power and shot out of the colony.

Just as he was leaving the vicinity of the colony the radio cracked and turned on. "Remember Heero, be careful. Know thyself.

"Understood old man." Heero said in a half bored half affirmative voice.

"Heero, do you know why I plotted you this course to the Earth?"

"So Wing can use the wave course and disguise myself as a meteorite to avoid detection from the Alliance Satellite Surveillance Network."

"Yes, but also to make the most use of Earth's gravity. You should be able to cut engines in a few hours and drift towards using inertia. Save as much fuel as possible Heero. You won't be able to resupply often." The voice of a worried old man said.

"I know, I understand. I won't fail."

"Glad to see you're confident. But even so, be careful. You've got a fuel ours until you reach the Earth, try to get some sleep until then."

***

His metal desk emitted the coldness of space. Even with his gloves on he could feel the cold unforgiving breath of space. This heightened sense of things, he had slowly developed over the years. As if to correct some sin that he committed in his past. Ultimately it was not a sin of action or inaction, it was a sin of ignorance. She was too young to remember him, but he remembers. He remembers it well. He can remember his words, he can feel them as they slowly come to fruition. And in his memory, in his honour, the porcelain mask, he wears it now.

***

He had been here before. He knew the scene well. It was all a dream, yet it was completely real at the same time. He watched. He knew what was to come. He should stop it. He always tells himself to. But he never does.

There he was, Marco. He was the one on the ground. Him, a father, two kids, one Heero's age, Jeffery, one two years younger, Andrew, a wife Miranda, they lived in the old Industrial District of town. He was a hard worker, a master welder, he enjoyed a chess and boxing, a loving man, a simple man. That was him on the ground. The one with the broken nose with blood pouring out of it, a black eye, and rifle jammed down his throat. He choked. Heero watched. They all did. None of them did anything. The rest of them were scared, scared of the Alliance military thugs. Heero, he was scared of what he might do to them.

It wasn't his time, Heero couldn't jeopardize the mission. Doctor J didn't send him to work in construction few six months so that he could play hero. He was sent there to live and work amongst the colonists, so that he could truly understand what he was fighting for. And to do that, he had to endure their pain, not relieve it. At least not yet.

His guilt and his shame, they always woke him up. It is as if his brain would not let him live in that moment any longer than he had to. He woke up. That dream, he thought, lasts about half and hour. Always. He looked over at the time display, sure enough, it had been a half hour since he dozed off. He looked at his ETA, four hours and thirty-seven minutes, plenty of time to go back to sleep he thought.

***

Her face and the rest of her body was numb. She had been planted to the bad for nearly eleven hours. She woke up to a stinging headache caused by too much drinking and partying from the night before. She regretted the decision, but at the time it seemed perfectly natural to have fun if her father was elsewhere conducting business that was not related to her. She had no idea what she was thinking but given the circumstances of this trip and her playful nature, it was no surprise. And indeed in all honesty would probably not be her last time. This is as she was, it was her character, and she supposed it had something to do with growing up rich. But these days, being a young attractive girl at age fifteen with a small cult following of guys always around, she didn't give it much thought.

As it happens her only thought revolved around that last bottle of vodka she had last night and hiding it before her father found it. But as she opened her eyes, she found that her worries, though legitimate, were outdated. Her father stood beside her bed. He was looking into the mirror as he finished his tie and put on his suit. Relena cringed as she lifted herself out of bed.

"Out late again last night Relena?" Vice Foreign Minister Darlian asked rhetorically.

"I'm sorry father." Relena replied.

"Yeah, you're sorry, you're always sorry. When are you going to grow up?" He said as he put on his shoes.

"Yeah well, just trying to have a little fun." Relena said as she slipped out of bed only to jump back in. She had realized that she had no underwear on underneath.

"I think Charlie left with them." He said as he got up to leave.

"Fuck" Relena blurted out. "Charlie…" She had forgotten about him. Despite the fact that her father knew her party antics all too well, she was still a bit embarrassed that her father knew the intimate details about her sex life.

"He seems like a nice kid." Her father said sarcastically. "I don't you want you to see him again."

"You don't have to tell me again." Relena said under her breath.

"And I want you out of bed in an hour. We have a flight to catch. We'll talk about this later." He said as he left the room.

Relena fell on her bed. There was nothing about her predicament that was favourable. Her father was mad at her. Her birthday was coming up and he couldn't care less. On top of that she just decided to let some complete stranger have a go at her most intimate parts. The press was going make her life hell if they ever found out about it. Luckily, the Alliance Military was pretty good at keeping the press at bay.

It didn't take long before she finally got out of bed and reached for a fresh pair of underwear to put on. She slipped into a semi-long skirt and a white blouse. As much as she and her father were not on the best of terms, she had no intentions of making a scene during their departure from the colony. As free a spirit as she was or wanted others to think, she knew how to dress to impress. She put on a pair of classy boots and fixed her making up before leaving the room a twenty-year old woman.

***

A patrol passed by him. But his machine was too fast. Wing had travelled uninterrupted for nearly six hours straight. Heero occasionally woke up to check the time and the trajectory. Usually on older models he had to correct the course trajectory if put on autopilot but this new computer system was more advanced and precise than anything he had previously encountered. There was a squad of Space Leos behind him. As much as he liked the Leos, depend, sturdy machines as they were, he knew there was no way for them to catch up to his new machine. Still he knew what was coming and as soon as he reaches the Satellite Surveillance Network, they would give him hell.

It would only take him another two hours to reach visual range of the furthest beacon from the Earth. He knew that shooting it down would mean he would never make it to the surface in one piece. On the other hand he was just a little too far to let inertia all the way. As soon as he reached a certain point near the Earth the fall would become erratic and his descent would no longer be as predictable.

Never the less he shut off the engines and turned off all non-vital systems as to not emit any heat other than his afterglow.

***

The crew of the Satellite Surveillance Team had been checking in with an unidentified metallic object nearing closer and closer to Earth for several hours now. It had been traveling the length of the wave course that would take it directly into the atmosphere. It showed no signs of movement other than the gravitational forces that carried it. And it emitted no more heat than any other natural object moving at high speeds. The team had just assumed it was a nothing to worry about. Despite that, the Satellite Surveillance Team decided that it would be prudent to make a note of this occurrence.

"Moving object confirmed at La Grange point AX moving in the GY position." The officer at the com station reported. "Estimated to reach Earth in 600 seconds."

"It's not just one." His superior commented as he stared at the same blinking screen.

"No sir. The sensors have picked up five metal objects." The com officer replied.

"Zechs is in the atmosphere, let him know." The commander said as his order. "It's probably old satellite parts or something like that."

"Yes sir." The com officer replied.

Zechs' personal assault carrier lingered in the atmosphere. He had waited woken up long ago but had joined his crew on deck only recently. Zechs Marquise, Zechs Marquise was a man of great respect. A war hero at the age of 11, he had been hand picked by Colonel Treize Khushrenada of OZ and was given a very special status both within the military and the offices of Colonel Treize's organization. He wore a red uniform instead of the usual black one, he distinguished himself further by growing his hair out long, the military mandated haircut did not apply to him. And he wore a white porcelain mask. He had the authorization to not show his face and his eyes to anyone within the Alliance Military as well as OZ. In fact even the members of Romefeller had not seen the face behind the legend. His reasons for concealing his face were unknown, and no one dared to ask.

"Lieutenant Zechs, Surveillance is reporting a meteorite." The com officer inside the assault carrier reported.

Zechs chuckled under his breath. "Figures, the satellite surveillance guys are practically blind. They really think that a meteorite would ride the wave course to enter the Earth's atmosphere?"

"So it's just as the reports say." His com officer replied.

"Yes. It's Operation M." Zechs confirmed as he read over the reports. "How many can this vessel catch up with?"

"Just one; the one headed for Eastern Eurasia." The com officer replied.

"One will be just dandy." Zechs said with a certain enthusiasm to his voice. "A hired front line soldier mustn't rush into battle."

His com officer jerked his head back. "That's quite the bold statement sir."

"I told you. I am a true soldier." Zechs replied confidently.

Heero had made it past the Satellite Surveillance Network. He was now well on his way to the surface. He would probably have to deal with the Atmospheric Defence Network if anything now. His machine had glided beautifully; he was still right on course. He checked outside the window, the sun was about to rise, but he would definitely make on time. He turned on the microphone and started a new log file.

"All areas functioning." He reported. "Commencing entry operations in seven minutes."

Just then Wing's sensor array picked up something within his path of descent.

"A civilian shuttle…" Heero said to himself. "The PA355 flight to Eastern Europe, it was suppose to pass through this area 45 minutes ago."

***

Relena took the window seat. Her father didn't care either way, he had seen the Earth from above many times before. She however did not get to travel as often as her father. Anyways, the beautiful view of the Earth from above, as beautiful as it was, was just a distraction from her disappointment at this trip altogether. She wanted to spend more time with her father on this trip. Their relationship has been stressed as of late, typical of most teenagers, she was feeling the stress of school, friends, boys, and of course to expectation of her family and those around her. Add to this her life as the daughter of a very important public figure, it was indeed no surprise she had fallen away from her family as much as she did.

Still she knew how to carry herself, around the media, around her father's associates. But there was something in her that was deeply unsatisfied and despite all her personal rebellions she still felt that there was something missing from her life.

Relena's father sat beside her with his eyes closed. He had been extremely disappointed with Relena's behaviour over this whole trip but he knew her, and he knew that she needed to time calm down, and frankly so did he. He knew that this was partly his own fault.

A blonde flight attendant came over tapped Vice Foreign Minister Darlian on the shoulder and whisper. "Mr. Darlian, the shuttle will soon enter the atmosphere."

"Thank you," He whispered back to her.

The flight attendant smiled and left.

"You like her?" Relena said not turning her head from staring out the window.

"That's inappropriate." Her father said trying to not start another argument. "I know you're still mad at me. And I'm sorry, but your behaviour lately has been, frankly, unacceptable."

"You know what dad? How about you work on getting your priorities straight and I'll work on mine." Relena said looking at back at him.

Taking a non confrontational stance her father replied. "I'll gladly take you up on that offer."

Relena was just about say something else when she noticed a glint outside the window of their spacecraft. She fell silent.

"What's that…" she whispered to herself.

"Relative speed to target, 01545," Heero said as he tracked the civilian ship on main view screen. He unlocked the rifle seal and exposed the barrel to the atmosphere. "Auto lock on engaged, preparing to shoot down obstacle."

Just as he was about to pull the trigger he noticed another craft approaching.

"Earth's assault carrier." Heero said to himself.

Inside the assault carrier, Zechs and his crew watch as the unknown craft in front of them as it approached a civilian shuttle.

"We've caught up." The pilot reported. "I'll bring it up on the main screen."

"Just as I thought." Zechs said. "So that's their new 'battle seed' all ready to sprout into new battles."

"He has to slow down, there's a civilian shuttle ahead." Zechs said.

"Isn't there a chance that he'll shoot it down and speed up?" The pilot asked.

"I doubt he'll shoot it down right in front of us." Zechs said. He was playing a dangerous game. Strategically this was a sound move and an acceptable risk to take. But she was on that shuttle, Zechs was fully aware of this fact. It made him a bit nervous. But at this point he could not let his true motives show, not yet. "Operation M is top secret, he can't afford to make any mistakes."

Heero watched as the assault carrier got closer and closer.

"The Alliance is already onto me." Heero said as he assessed the situation. He could no longer clear his path with one single shot, not without incurring the wrath of the entire Atmospheric Defense Network along with this particular assault carrier.

Still, Heero had a plan. He descended into the atmosphere without changing course or doing anything else suspicious. But even so, he knew full well that the assault carrier was on his tail was not going to just let him go on his way.

"He's entered the atmosphere; we'll follow." The assault carrier's pilot said as they continued their pursuit of the unknown vessel.

In mid-entry, Heero kicked in the forward maneuvering thrusters to throw him into a spin. His machine rattle violently as the pressure of the atmosphere and the force of the thrusters conflicted. He then kicked his main thrusters into overdrive as he sent his machine hurling towards the Earth.

"The capsule changed course." The pilot reported. "Is he trying to commit suicide?"

"Is he trying to shake us?" The com officer asked.

"Yes. He's increasing speed." The pilot responded.

"Rdiculous, there's no way he can survive that kind of heat." The com officer added.

"Not necessarily. Obviously our enemies are very technologically advanced." Zechs replied to both of them as his intrigue of this new machine grew.

Relena watched as the capsule violently fought the atmosphere around it. She had never seen anything like it.

"What's going on?" She asked herself.

"Operation Meteor." Her father answered in a calm voice. "It's begun."

Relena looked at her father in astonishment. Maybe there was something about this whole situation that she didn't quite understand. She was beginning to feel afraid.

Heero plunged towards the Earth. He kicked one of the pedals down pushed a level above him forward. He then entered the command lines into the main computer as well as the confirmation codes. The outerplating of his machine began to buckle. The heat of the atmosphere was sucked into the cracks in the armour or making it glow. As the plates fell off, and inner most mobile form was revealed. The wings folded out and locked into position. Heero had penetrated through the atmosphere and had officially made it to Earth.

To be continued…


	3. Chapter 2

The Apocrypha  
By Nick Zou

_Author's note: To those still reading this series, sorry for taking such a long time to write this. I work on it more than my pages would suggest. It just takes a while for me to complete them. Also, I never proof read so if there are some brutal grammar and spelling mistakes, I apologize and ask for you to bear with me. Thank you._

Heero kicked his machine's boosters to full blast. He rode with the wave course as close as possible as to not damage its Gundanium hull more than it had already suffered with re-entry. But he needed to pull away from carrier on his tail. He looked at his monitor and watched as the carrier drifted further from him.

"What is this Lieutenant?" Zechs' pilot asked in astonishment of what he had just witnessed.

"Operation Meteor is a fighter?" His co-pilot asked.

"It moves just like bird."

"We've reached flight altitude. Cool down time 100 seconds. We can proceed to attack".

The shades came down as the carrier had successfully entered the atmosphere. As with the fighter in front of them there was a period of silence as they both needed to cool down from the heat created by atmospheric friction. Except the fighter was speeding up.

"No time, he's pulling away." Zechs said.

"Let's wake him up with our machine gun." The co-pilot said.

"No. No machine gun for him." Zechs objected. "Shoot him down!"

"But Lieutenant Zechs, I can't open the hangar doors until the cool down time is passed." The pilot said.

"I thought our mission was to bring in the weapon. But the real target is obviously the pilot inside." Zechs replied.

Out of frustration the co-pilot engaged the machine guns and targeted Heero's machine and opened fire. His aim was off. Heero took note of the carrier's machine gun range. He then evaded upward as the next steam of bullets targeted his former position.

"Internal pressure nominal, hull stress rising." Heero took note of all these factors. "Temporarily disengaging frame locks."

His fighter's joints shifted just enough to release any built up pressure. He then proceeded to pull away. He looked back and considered that the carrier was moving slower than expected; its acceleration was lower than the average carrier.

"It must be carrying suits." Heero said to himself. "That changes everything."

Heero turned his fighter around with a sharp swerve and kicked his boosters to max. He headed back towards the carrier.

"The enemy fighter has turned around and is heading for us." The pilot of the carrier announced.

"Is the Leo ready for use?" Zechs asked as he opened the door.

"Yes." The co-pilot answered.

"You're going after a fighter in a mobile suit?" The pilot asked.

"Wouldn't the Aries light-speed mobile suit be better than the Leo land-battle mobile suit?" The co-pilot asked.

"My Leo is plenty fast enough." Zechs answered. "Besides, if it's a fight he wants, I should at least give him my best."

The hangar doors at the back of the carrier opened the Leo armed with a dober gun drifted out of the back.

"Lieutenant Zechs, I'll send back up when the Aries is ready." His pilot said through the intercom.

"Roger." Zechs replied.

Zechs scanned his surroundings for the fighter but he was well out of visual range. It was his onboard sensors that picked up the machine coming down from above him.

"He's above!" Zechs said as he aimed the dober gun upwards and fired.

The shot missed as the fighter zipped past his Leo. Zechs recalculated his aim to take into account of the gravitational drop at his angle and fired again. This time it hit the fighter's wing joint and sent it drifting off course.

"Left drive malfunctioning. He's good." Heero said.

"Nice shot Lieutenant Zechs." The co-pilot of the carrier said through the intercom.

"So much for him. That was far too easy." Zechs commented.

"Lieutenant Zechs, Ensign Marson and I will are coming in the Aries. We'll follow and capture him on land. This is our chance to learn more about Operation Meteor. Though there is a chance he may self-detonate." The co-pilot said.

"He's made it all the way to the Earth, he's won't commit suicide before he sets foot on it." Zechs replied.

As Heero plunged towards the Earth he accessed his command console and input the necessary codes. He then released the frame lock and in midair Wing transformed into a mobile suit.

"It just transformed." Zechs noted.

"Lieutenant, what the hell is that thing?" Ensign Marson asked.

"No idea." Zechs replied.

The Aries docked a parachute pack onto Zechs' Leo and began their pursuit of Wing.

"Lieutenant, leave him to us." Ensign Marson said.

"Thanks." Zechs replied.

Wing remained perfectly still as it fell towards the Earth. The Aries closed in behind him and proceeded to open fire. Heero kept his machine as still as he could. The missiles collided with the back of his suit. Luckily his Gundanium plating on the outside of his thrusters prevented any serious damage, though it did manage to send his suit into a spin, a spin that would give him a perfect view of his attackers. Heero positioned his Gundam upward.

"It moved."

"Never mind just keep firing."

Wing lifted its Buster Rifle and fired at the two Aries. The intense heat of the beam engulfed both Aries and vaporized them.

"One more to go." Heero said to himself.

"He blew away two Aries with just one shot!" Zechs said in amazement. "Not too shabby."

Zechs disengaged the parachute of the Leo and the dober gun and pulled out the Leo's beam sabre and charged towards Wing. Heero shot at the Leo but Zechs was quick enough to evade it. But just as Zechs was about to cut through Wing, Heero managed to catch the Leo's hand. Zechs had anticipated this move and opened the cockpit and baled out of the machine just in time.

Wing and Zechs' Leo were falling towards the surface, it was too late for Wing to engage its thrusters, they were too close to the ground and the Leo was too much weight at the moment.

"Lieutenant Zechs, are you alright?" The pilot of the carrier broadcasted through a general OZ radio frequency.

Zechs clicked on the radio attached the parachute he was using. "Yeah. Sorry to worry you. I did everything I could."

"Logistics has finished the battle data analysis. Judging by its re-entry and ammunition tolerance, the outer hull must be made of Gundanium alloy."

"So it was a Gundam."

Wing and Leo crashed into the ocean while Zechs viewed everything from above.

"The suit may be unharmed." Zechs said. "But that reckless pilot won't have survived."

"Lieutenant." The pilot said. "The Marina Mother Ship is offering to salvage the unregistered mobile suit."

"Let them do as they wish. Tell them it sank in the J.A.P Point in the Asia Area."

"Yes sir."

"They offered to salvage it? There's no bright future for soldiers scurrying for their reward."

***

Gundam Wing: The Apocrypha

By Nick Zou

Chapter 2

Walker smelled his coffee and put it down on the table in front of him. Gracie didn't make this. He knew Gracie's coffee. It's was the only coffee he drank. Still he had a rough day. He left the lounge area and bought himself a cola. Just as he cracked the seal open his commanding officer approached him.

"So, how'd it go?" Walker asked.

"As it expected, Septum's not very happy. But the rest of them didn't seem to give a flying fuck." His commanding officer said. "They still thing they have the colonies wrapped around their finger."

Walker's commanding officer bought a cola himself and cracked it open.

"Oh yeah, Gracie's took a few weeks off." He said as he looked at Walker's cola and his own. "The office sure is quiet without her."

"What about the data?" Walker asked.

"Sent to logistics for analysis. It's probably just going to be archived and left to rot." He answered. "Oh yeah, and that transfer you asked for? You got it. Though I can't imagine what's so great about art defence. Dog fighting isn't what it used to be. You'll be begging to return to special ops again soon enough." He said as he handed over his transfer papers to Walker.

"We'll see about that." Walker replied.

***

Relena watched as the military motorcade that carried her father drove away. She stood at the edge of the spaceport sidewalk pickup zone wishing that he would just drop his job for once and pay some attention to her. But despite how selfish she could be at times, she would never say that directly to her father. The soldier that was left to watch her held out a leather jacket for her to wear. She politely smiled at the soldier and took the jacket and put it on. She then took her scarf and wore it neatly and tucked it underneath her jacket.

"I'll be fine now, I can head home by myself. Thank you for your assistance though." She said politely to the soldier.

Relena made her way down to the docks. The warm maritime air brushed across her face and along with it loose strands of her hair. The sun was setting over the west. It seemed odd to her, yet familiar. Space had been such a departure from her everyday life. But at the same time, it put everything into perspective. Yet she was no closer to reconciling her desires with her responsibilities. Her strained relationship with her father, had only become more evident in the depths of space, yet no more hopeful. She turned her head and stared out to sea, in an absent voice she said:

"Father, don't you realize that my birthday is coming up soon. The average girl would probably flip over this."

She stood still for a moment, she observed the slow yet steady militarization of this once small yet prosperous fishing town. She saw the odd juxtaposition, of military aircrafts and centuries old apartments. There was something about this world that she didn't quite understand yet. She wasn't even sure what the right question was this moment in time.

As she turned her gaze from the town towards the sea again, she caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a person on the beach. Startled by the sight of a possibly dead person, she collected herself and ran down the steps to the person. On closer inspection, the body was of a young boy, probably no older than herself. Yet all of his equipment seemed to be of a military construct. Could this be one of the child soldiers she had heard her father discuss with the Alliance generals?

"He's a soldier." She said to herself.

He breathed. He was in fact alive. Then came a grunt, which startled Relena even more. He tried to push himself up from the ground but his suit had absorbed much water, at his current capacity for physical activity, he just could not lift himself. He came crashing down into the sand. Relena rushed to his aid. She fiddled around with the helmet's locking mechanism and managed with a slight lack of grace to remove it from the rest of the suit revealing the boy underneath.

He was unconscious. Fearing that he may die right then and there, she pulled out her cell phone and dialled for emergency services.

***

The familiar sounds of the Voyevoda Opera rang from the stage below to his ears. He knew the melody well, as did most men of his stature. Still he enjoyed the sounds as men of his stature would. He put down the Opera glasses as he heard footsteps approach from behind him. He looked back and his personal assistant handed him a laptop. He gave him a courteous smile as he put down the laptop in from of him and turned on the display. He lowered the volume of his laptop speakers as not to disturb the rest of the Opera house. The video conference application had already been activated. On the other side was Zechs Marquise.

"Colonel Khushrenada, Lieutenant Zechs Marquise reporting in." Zechs said as his opening address.

"Skip the formalities Zechs, this whole Gundam incident better be important." Treize replied. "So what happened out there?"

"We managed to catch up the Gundam in question as he entered at atmosphere at dawn. After a brief altercation with a civilian shuttle we managed to direct its attention towards us. At which point I launched with my Leo to confront the Gundam. Soon after two Aries followed, but were destroyed by the Gundam's high intensity energy weapon." Zechs reported.

"Hmmm." Treize contemplated the situation in his head. "Something like this would've never happened if you and I were in OZ fifteen years ago, that much is for certain."

"Treize, its official, the colonies have the means to strike back now." Zechs commented.

"Can't imagine otherwise." Treize agreed. "The Alliance, Orbital Surveillance Network was far from being sufficient. And it seems Special Ops aren't doing their job either."

"The Alliance's Marina is on their way to gather to evidence." Zechs said.

"Alright, leave that business to my men. I'll send in my specialists in undersea searches. You can take it from there." Treize said.

"Thank you sir." Zechs said.

"I'm sure that you are aware, but this is an important period. Do not do anything that would anger the Alliance." Treize warned.

"I understand." Zechs replied as the live link was terminated.

***

Relena waited patiently as the ambulance arrived. Heero began to regain conciousness again. It was slow, but his vision soon came back to him and he opened his eyes. His eyes came into focus, sitting next to him was a stunningly beautiful young girl. He got up to his feet in one quick motion and held his arm in front of his face.

"It's okay" Relena said. "The ambulance is on its way."

"Did you see?" Heero asked still holding his hands in front of his face.

The ambulance had arrived. There was no more time. Heero broke the seal on his chest. He pressed the red button. But nothing happened. It was dead. And he would be too, if he doesn't escape. The medical personnel reached Relena. Heero pulled out his gun and aimed it at her.

"Hey! Hold on there buddy!" The medic said.

Heero switched his aim to the medic. The medic backed off. Heero rushed towards him, grabbed his wrist, slid his foot so that it crossed with his, in one downward motion swept the medic off his feet and crashed to the ground. He then roundhouse kicked the other medic. He ran away from Relena, only then did his memory allow him to gather enough information to possibly identify her as Relena Darlian, daughter of the Alliance Vice Foreign Minister. If this was the case, he had to eliminate her before he could be identified.

As the strange boy ran off and stole the ambulance in the most professional fashion, Relena could not help but stare in wonder at what she had just witnessed. Her adrenaline levels were starting fall. She had just had a gun pointed at her. And that boy, he was so strange, yet familiar.

***

Colonel Treize Khushrenada stepped into the colonial style board room. The other Alliance Generals were already seated. Fashionably late as always, Treize liked to test the patience of the older generation.

Treize took a seat right next to Septum, much to Septum's misery. Septum was a man of discipline, old-school, hard-working, but not particularly gifted. He's seen his share of battles, his record was shaky at best. But this new aristocrat, this baby, talented as he was on the battlefield, Septum felt that he had no place at the Alliance Generals meeting. The man was far too young and too confident for his own good.

"I'm sorry I'm late." Treize said as he adjusted his sword so that it did not tangle with the legs of his chair.

"Colonel Treize, I hear your subordinate lost three mobile suits while entering the atmosphere." One of the older generals asked.

"Yes sir, your point being?" Treize asked in a slightly defensive tone.

"You wasted three mobile suits to bring a minor rebellion under control?" Septum asked.

"As a result, we were able to prevent the rebellion from developing into anything." Treize answered calmly.

"I'm not talking about the results!" Septum replied angrily. "You're abusing the Alliance's valuable combat resources!"

"Valuable combat resources? Are you talking about our soldiers? Or are you talking about mobile suits?" Treize rhetorically asked.

"Are you mocking me, damn it?" Septum lashed out at Treize.

"Calm down." One of the other generals stepped in. "Colonel Treize, mobile suits… and soldiers are expensive, do not let it happen again."

"Yes sir." Treize answered.

The lights dimmed and the LED screen turned on. The general at the head of the table stood up and approached the screen. A slide of the five coloney clusters came up. Treize absently paid attention to the display. He knew this little lecture off by heart and he knew that it was a fruitless endeavour. He looked around the room at the idiots at the head of the Alliance these days. What a bunch of fools, he thought, the Alliance military is getting complacent in this time of peace, the new future will be crafted by my organization.

***

He lurked in the shadows. He was trained for this. But frankly, this mission wasn't worth his skill. He snuck past the bases perimeter and primary defense network without so much as a stray radar signal.

He was who he was. He lived in the shadows, a creature of the unseen eye. Even to those who knew and saw him, none knew about his killer nature. It was easy, a light heated smile so that none would cast suspicions.

He entered the main control room. He accessed the primary mainframe and with the Alliance security bypass virus he was given, the core systems of this base was laid bare. He plugged in the USB device and let the program run. A few seconds later, he entered into the console the command to overload the fuel lines. The fuel lines which he had already rigged with explosives.

A few moments later, he was half a mile away from the base sitting in the cockpit of his machine, Deathscythe. He entered into the command console of his mobile suit the code for remote denotation and sure enough, a few seconds later the base burst into flames.

"Now for the clean-up." He said as he raised his mobile suit from its knees.

***

A knocked out a guard woke up choking on his own spit. He had been out for several minutes following the initial explosion. He had no idea what was going on or what to do but he immediately assessed that they had been compromised. A loud buzz came from one of the only working consoles left. He went over and checked the alert.

He coughed hard as he dropped to his knees, barely being able to reach the console. A large unidentified mobile suit was just outside the base. But how could one machine cause all this damage, he thought to himself, how did he slipped by the surveillance systems?

He's hands felt something cold and wet. It was his spit but as he lifted himself up from the console he noticed blood. He coughed again, this time it wasn't spit.

His blood covered the LED screen. He wiped as much of the blood away as he could before he decided he was out of time. He grabbed a headset and turned on all radio channels.

"Mayday, mayday, unidentified mobile suit…" He would've continued. But all he heard was static. He looked out the window at the radio tower. It was still standing. He wondered why he couldn't radio out.

Suddenly, there was a flash of green light and a cold chill ran down his spine. He slowly turned his head to look out the window in front of him. There it was, two green eyes staring back at him. He had always wondered what it was like not so much to die, but what it meant to be in that moment right before death takes you.

He had but one word to describe it; terrifying.

***

Zechs stepped out of his quarters and onto the deck. He looked outside the window and to his surprise he could see the water.

"We've arrived? Where's the Marina search troops?" Zechs asked.

"They say they won't be here for two hours." The pilot said.

"What's taking them so long?" His co-pilot asked.

"Don't get so flustered, that Gundam's not going anywhere." Zechs said as he sat down in his chair. "And don't forget the waters are quite deep here, I'm sure they're just loading up the necessary equipment for the job. And I'm anticipating this search taking up the next day or two."

"That long?" The co-pilot asked.

"It seems we've under estimated our enemy once again." Zechs replied. "While he wasn't able to shrug the Leo I planted on him during our little fall. He did manage to boost off course specifically in this direction. Seems like our pilot is as smart as he is suicidal."

"Still…"

"Here, let me show you something." Zechs said as he handed his co-pilot photos that he had recently printed off.

"What's this?" He asked.  
"An Oz observation craft took these pictures." Zechs answered. "Don't you think it looks an awful lot like the one we encountered?"

"You mean, there are two of these things?"

"No, there appears to be even more than that." Zechs continued. "There are reports that a mobile suit factory held by Oz, a spaceport, and troops searching for a capsule much like ourselves, all came under attack and have been completely annihilated."

"So there are four of them?"

"Five, if you include the one that already sank."

"Five!"

"Consider ourselves fortune because we made it out with our lives after an encounter with a Gundam." Zechs said as he settled back into his chair.

To be continued…


	4. Chapter 3

The Apocrypha  
By Nick Zou

_Author's Note: lol, here it is. The yearly update. hahahaha, okay, if anyone is actually still reading this, I applaud and thank you. I WILL definitely try to update more frequently. These chapters are kinda redundant for those who are familiar with the show but my aim so to explore the characters a bit than they did on the show and the expand on the world in which they exist. Rest assured, this is only the beginning, I have plans to actually diverge from the plot of the show eventually and to complete it in what is in my mind to more satisfying ending. As for the primary ship in this fiction, it's obviously going to be about Heero and Relena as they are the primary characters and the show has more the most to work with, but I'm sure Noin and Zechs, Trowa and Catherine will all show up eventually._

_Oh and I might be doing some cover art per chapter because I feel like it lol. No promises though._

She held her hair up in a bun. The mirror told her seemed to disapprove. She agreed. She let go of her hair and ran the comb through it a couple of times to get rid of any residual tangles. She looked at herself in the mirror again. Her perfectly straight golden blonde hair flowed from the top of her head and draped gently on her shoulders before disappearing behind her. Her make –up was masterful; subtle enough to fool those who didn't know into thinking that it was just her natural beauty, and skilled enough to impress anyone who had an eye for such things. All she had to do was apply a coat of gloss over her lips.

A few minutes later she finished tying her bowtie around her neck. She never cared much for the look or the whole uniform for that matter but this was out of her hands and after a long trip, the last thing she wanted to do was get into any sort of trouble with the head mistress. She grabbed her bag off of the table and headed out the giant double doors led to the front of her father's estate. She jumped into her pink limo, hers since her thirteenth birthday. A pink limo, she thought, what a stupid idea, I'll have to get it repainted.

Gundam Wing: The Apocrypha  
Chapter 3

By Nick Zou

It took her by surprise when she arrived at the main lecture hall of St. Gabriel taking her usual seat to find the class abuzz. The head mistress was late and this room was usually for important announcements, guest lecturers, school functions and events. She hadn't been in this room for a couple of weeks and she wondered what exactly this whole thing was about. Being who she was, she had been separated from her friends in the lecture hall, her latest rebellions have raised her notoriety with the head mistress. Never the less, despite what a few teachers and proctors thought of her and her ever increasing impatience with academics, she had top marks, was the most rich and popular girl in school, in short, she ruled the school.

It had been barely a minute before she had settled in and fired off her first of what was expected to be many text messages between her and her friends, whom had been situated too far to even share meaningful glances, before she was struck by the familiarity of the face standing next to the podium.

The head mistress spoke with her usual perceived obliviousness as she introduced a new student. "Quiet please, I'd like to introduce a new student to your class."

And with the bluntness unknown to her and her circle, he simply said "My name is Heero Yuy, it's a pleasure."

"Take the seat beside Relena." The head mistress said as she pointed at the empty seat beside her. "Feel free to ask her any questions you may have."

Her heart stopped for a moment as he approached her from the bottom of the staircase. His steps were rhythmic, consistent, and almost robotic. His steely blue eyes pierced through the distance between them and seemingly made contact with her soul. She was… stunned. Unsure what to think of this enigmatic Asian boy who first washed ashore in a flight suit, she greeted him with the politeness she would for any stranger.

"Nice to meet you Heero." She said in a polite courteous voice as he sat down beside her.

Despite what she thought was a long direct stare as he made his way up the staircase he closed his eyes and refused to acknowledge her with words. Relena was perplexed, who was he? Who was this Heero Yuy?

The aircraft carrier Atlantis and two small escorts slowly drifted to a stop in the middle of the ocean. A pilot is strapped into his wetsuit as engineers prepare his machine. He jumped inside and the hatch closes on him. For a moment it was completely black, but the moment passed and the lights of the cockpit turned on.

The three main viewports turned on and glow a low intensity white, the cameras were not yet active. The main monitor turned on and a module appeared, it reads: username and password. The pilot swiveled out the keyboard and inputted vwittenburg for the username and 100750990 for the password. A moment after he hit the return key. The viewports turned from a white screen to the outside surroundings, his main monitor read Welcome, Lieutenant Varro Wittenburg, to the OZ-05MMS Seashell.

"Yeah, yeah." The pilot absently said to himself while adjusting the machine.

On the bridge of the Atlantis, the captain watched as clumsy bulldozers push the search team over the edge of his ship gently rocking the whole craft as each load of mass is dropped off into the ocean.

"What's taking so long?" He voiced his impatience.  
"We're having trouble discharging the mobile suits as the carrier isn't equipped for them." His lieutenant replied.

A call came in to interrupt their conversation.

"Captain, I have Lieutenant Zechs from Specials on the line." The comm officer informed the captain.  
"What does Treize's little pawn want now?" The captain asked.

Zechs appeared on the large LED screen overhead.

"I understand you're having problems." Zechs said over the monitor.  
"If I did, it wouldn't be any of your damn business Zechs." The captain replied.  
"I realize I maybe out of line for saying so but don't you think the fact that this search is taking so long will affect your evaluation in the eyes of the Alliance Headquarters?" Zechs said frankly.  
"Watch your mouth boy." The captain replied.  
"To tell the truth, I'm having some engine problems with our new submarine." Zechs continued.  
"You're wasting the wasting the military's money." The captain pressed the issue.  
"And you're wasting their time, it seems we're not so different." Zechs replied with a sting in his voice. "Anyways, I'd like to use your carrier as a base for our repairs. And to return the favour, we'll lend you our latest underwater mobile suits, Pisces and Cancer."  
"You want me to keep quiet about your engine problems for a couple of new models?" The captain asked.  
"Do we have an agreement?" Zechs asked.  
"You're on." The captain agreed. "Get over here."  
"Right." Zechs turned off the channel.

Zechs lieutenant got up from his console and approached Zechs.

"But Lieutenant Zechs, there isn't anything wrong with the submarine." He enquired.  
"I realize that but it's the only way he'd agree to helping us out." Zechs explained. "We just need a way to find what we're after."

Her attention was continually drawn away. She sat on the terrace overlooking the compound of St. Gabriel with her friends planning the details of her upcoming birthday. In the corner of her eye he could make out, unmistakably, Heero standing at the edge of the terrace looking onward into the endless sea of trees. She deduced that he must've been from the colonies. Maybe the Earth was new to him, maybe the vast, seemingly endless expanses of sky and nature had successfully taken him.

"So where should we go after the party?" One of her friends asked.  
"How about Helios? Or maybe Realm?" Her other friend suggested.  
"Or maybe we could head down to the beach for a bonfire. I'm sure Relena is tired of clubbing after her trip to outer space." A third friend added.  
"The Alliance marina has been ramping up operations." One of her male friends suggested. "I'm not sure if it is the greatest place for an after party."  
"What do you think Relena?" The first friend finally asked of her.

But her attention was elsewhere. Tired of the mystery, she grabbed one of the invitations off the table and approached Heero. Her friends whispered and gossiped in dismay. What was she doing? They knew nothing about this foreigner. As she neared him he turned to look at her with that same blank face he carried around everywhere. She handed him the invitation.

"My birthday is coming up, I hope you can make it." Relena said cordially.

Heero held the invitation in his hand. Again his face was expressionless. But in his mind he was running through an endless series of scenarios, should he go, what was his advantage here, why was she inviting him, who were these people, were they the enemy? All of which processed through his mind within half of second. His fingers traced the gold lining the invitation; he had never seen something so… pretty. He simply handed the invitation back to Relena. There was an audible gasp that could be heard from her companions. Relena began to tear up. She had never been rejected before. So this is what it felt like. It hurt. It hurt a lot. Heero moved across her. She was petrified, unable to move, Heero's eyes strayed and met hers. Suddenly a warmth came over her, a sense of kindness, had he meant something else? His finger touched her cheek gently as it caught her tear.

"I'll kill you." He said with the bluntness of his introduction early in the day.

Zechs had been sitting in his submarine for several hours now. His patience was staring to wear thin. His was the calling of a solider, not a junkyard scavenger. Still he knew the importance of his mission and the Gundam needed to be found, if only to satisfy his own curiosity. His men worked diligently in silence as Zechs as he often did, read to himself in his quarters. He knew he commanded the respect of his subordinates like no other. Partly due to his natural mystique, he knew the porcelain mask helped, but that's not why he wore it. Although he did find it useful, in fact he found it useful in several occasions, he has no patience for the Alliance and their political games, the mask allowed him freedoms that he would not have had he shown his face.

After their lunch break, Relena and her friends, as was their custom, headed onto the balcony overlooking the gymnasium to watch the boys fence. Here, despite the neutered state of the sport, was the arena for their heirs of the aristocracy to assert their male dominance, with swords in hand, as their forefathers once did.

Heero inspected the blade of his foil, exquisite German steel, had he such a luxury during his years of training. The grip was French, he laughed internally, o_f __course __these __people __would __use __such __an __antiquate __grip_. Never the less, he was proficient, certainly proficient enough to beat these fools.

Finally it was Heero's turn. He looked over at his opponent, blonde hair, blue eyes, cocky smile, and a demeanor that spoke to his sense of entitlement. _Probably __from __years __of __being __told __the __world __was __his_, Heero deduced. He was of a different breed than he was used too, but this was not the first time he had encountered the spawn of the rich. In the downtown district of the colony he was from he would often witness and sometimes been the victim of the sons of the Alliance delegation and military officials.

"Do you know who she is?" He asked with the intention of telling him right after. "She's Relena Darlian, daughter of Vice Foreign Minister Darlian. When she invites you to her birthday, you don't turn her down."

He spoke as he attacked. He wasn't good enough to do that. He played a simple game and perhaps last week, or the last few months, or even since he started fencing this tactic worked. Exchange, back up one step, tap to take priority and lunge, if this didn't work he would just repeat it again. He parried wide and left his upper right vulnerable, probably thinking no one was good enough to disengage circle around and tag him there. He may have been right, it was a tricky move; his arm was in the way after all.

Heero disliked sword fighting of any kind, especially this less than honest depiction of the art. The day he had to fight with a sword was the day he was certain to die he thought. Still he had mastered the craft on the insistence of Doctor J. It wasn't an act of extravagance, it wasn't being overly prepared, it was practical. At first glance what was practical about fencing, nothing. But what most failed to take into account is that his Gundam had a beam saber and though the mechanics were wildly different, the concept was the same. Parry and lunge like a motherfucker.

So again, Heero played with him. His opponent's circle parries were nothing more than for show, he had no concept of leverage, he was just flailing about, possibly showing off. Heero ignored his opponents blade and lunged. As he predicted his foil sliced right through his parry made contact with his jacket, the blade bent upward with perfect form. What came next surprised everyone. The thick German blade bent to the point of breaking, and then it did. The tip snapped but the fuller continued until it made contact with his mask, cracking the acrylic surface as it did so.

With a stiff yank he pulled what was left of his foil out of his opponent's mask. What was great about these acrylic masks, obviously not for actual protection, was the he could see his opponent's dismay.

The room fell into a silence. He supposed that what he just did would conjure such silence had he been in their shoes. Still, it was a bit disconcerting, the audible heaving breathing of both his opponents and the onlookers, the clinking of steel as the others fiddled with their foils and sabers.

"Sorry, I wasn't aware of the rules here." Heero remarked. But in fact he knew exactly who she was. "But hey, you're much less likely to have another embarrassing moment like this if I'm not there." He said he would kill her but in his mind he knew he couldn't. _Taking __out, __the __daughter __of __the __Vice __Foreign __Minister __of __the __Alliance? _Strategically brilliant…

Relena and her friends watched from the balcony, silent as the rest of them. Relena tried to process what had just happened. She was trying to process Heero. Who was he? How did he fight so well? He was certainly stronger than he looked. His Prussian blue eyes and his thin muscular build certainly did not resemble the overblown thugs that usually passed for soldiers in her father's entourage. Fencing was the sport of aristocrats, knife fighting was the sport of soldiers. _He __is __a __prince_, she thought to herself.

"They're fighting over you." One of her friends said in a matter of fact tone.

Relena's head jerk towards her. She found it odd that a comment as such which usually was accompanied with a teasing tone was said so frankly.

After a quick shower Heero changed back into his uniform and slipped away into the computer labs. He could tell that he had left his mark on the majority of the sophomore class. That was a little more notoriety than he was hoping for but the chance to put one of those aristocratic brats in their place, he just couldn't pass that opportunity up. He booted up one of the computers and accessed its networking protocol.

From his pocket he pulled out a USB stick and inserted into the computer. He uploaded the script that Doctor J had written. The shell program took a little longer to upload than he expected. While he waited he looked out of his window to find Relena and her companions on horses. It had been a while since he rode, another one of those useless skills that Doctor J had insisted that he pick. He couldn't see any situations where he would need to pick up a lance and joust but in spite of the inherently uselessness of the task, he excelled at it, as he did most things he put his mind to.

He could see Relena mounted on her steed walking the horse around, gently petting its neck. She seemed… gentle. Not at all the rumored brat he had come across through intelligence files and stolen personnel profiles. There was more to her than he had initially predicted. But he had learned, the hard way, that his predictions were not always right. If they were, his machine would not be at the bottom of the ocean right now.

He checked back with the computer and waited for the last of the script to install. The actual shell program sat somewhere on a public server in Fresno California, while having access to idle bank accounts around the world. Later he would have to manually gain access to the Alliance military networks but for now he could take care of his financial commitments for his cover. He paid his lodging and admissions fees from funds transferred from a trust that hadn't been touched in well over two hundred years.

* * *

Relena loosened her bowtie at the end of the day. What a day it had been for her. Was adjusting to Earth time not enough already? Did she really have to get involved with a mysterious boy that washed up upon the shores only a few miles from the Alliance Marina? All of this far beyond her but why was he in the middle of it? He was exactly her age yet he seemed a million miles from where her and her friends were. While she looked on from the balcony overlooking the gymnasium with her friends, she noted that which they treated as an important ritual between her girlfriends and that of their male peers rejected, tossed aside, almost belittled by Heero. As if the test of human strength and ability, by any means would have been considered important to one's ego and self-image, was nothing but a mere distraction to him, he had more important things to think about.

That of course, even if it didn't all make sense yet, was made apparent when she found him not just a day ago, dressed like a soldier, ready to kill himself. Who was Heero Yuy? She asked this question of herself over and over. The question scared her. Why did he want to kill her? She didn't know anything.

As she waved goodbye to her friends, hiding her weary from them as best as possible, _smile __Relena_, she thought to herself. She always had to smile. She always had to put on a face for the world. It was her talent; her burden. She could tell that she hadn't given the best performance that day but she knew she could just pass it off as jetlag. And although she certainly was weary from her travels, something else was bothering her. Something she didn't quite understand.

Zechs stepped out onto the bridge as his comm officer reported that they had found something. He put on his gloves and donned the porcelain mask that covered his face, it always covered his face. Stepping out onto the bridge, he commanded the attention and respect of all his crew before a wave of the hand set them back into their seats.

"The detector has picked up a trace of metal at point 5500." The sonar officer reported.  
"Good." Zechs began. "Send out Pisces and Cancer."  
And suddenly, but as if it had been premeditated, "Leiutenant, let me handle this one."  
"Are you sure?" Zechs asked of one of his junior officers. "This isn't like being in outer space."  
"I know." The young soldier confirmed. "I can handle it."  
"Alright then." Zechs was not above letting those with initiative thrive under his command. "Move out."

The submarine's internal docks depressurized and slowly started to fill with the outside water. The young ensign sat in his red Cancer. The guide-lock mechanism released and they slowly inched their way out of the vicinity of the sub. Their formation was slow. They were well trained pilot but they were still fresh from Lake Victoria.

"Delta formation, full spread, enclose object, 500 meters." The enthusiastic ensign ordered. "Don't screw this up. Pisces first, my Cancer will follow."

Zechs watched from the bridge of the submarine. Their seemed to be sporadic signals from friendlies from his rear, but he wasn't aware of any patrol within the vicinity other than the Atantlis fleet right above them. He wondered if they were engaged in combat at that very moment. If so, was it a Gundam? If it was, then what was he looking for?

The signals disappeared. Zechs had a sneaking suspicion, as he always did about combat, and deduced that there was a battle right above him and it was a Gundam. He currently had no means for effectively combating it however.

"Submerge, and cut engines." Zechs said. "The captain is above to rain some depth charges right on top of us and I don't want to take a hit."  
"What about Cancer and Pisces." His comm officer asked.  
"Tell them to continue the search." Zechs replied.

It seemed like the whole world was turned upside down. The illusion of safety, the illusion of comfort, the illusion of power all broke down in a single burst of fuel exploding and blinding the crew of the Atlantis. The captain stared in dismay as a silent killer eviscerated his underwater forces and made quick work of the destroyer to his right flank. He hadn't time to even give a command before the depth charges had been launched. _Full __spread,__I __pray __to __God __this __works_, he thought.

But like a demon of the night, a monster of the deep, the billowing water that dragged in another destroyer left him with a deep sense of failure, a deep sense of doom. A hand reached out and grabbed the side of the destroyer as it toppled over. A large green scythe, ripped through the fuel container and destroyed the destroyer yet leaving no scratch on the demon himself.

From the flames it emerged as if some impossible monster from another world, as if he, Death, finally personified, and in his hand, he held the scepter of justice, a glowing green blade of indescribable heat. Now comes the judgment of the thousand faceless colonies, a reaction to tyranny, anger burned in his eyes, green and pure, he sliced through the bridge of the carrier taking out much of the crew.

He is the God of Death.

The polite greetings were met with as much a smile as she could muster then. She was radiant, the star she had always known she was; she had always naturally been. Relena descended from the grand staircase of her father's estate as the guest of honor. Her birthday was finally upon her. And though her futile attempts to salvage it from the stifling hands of her father's colleagues had failed, she was determined to make the best of it.

She received each birthday wish with poise and grace. She was the perfect image of a proper daughter of the Alliance. Perhaps one day, of Romefeller. She silently watched as her father and his cohorts huddled around his table, secretly, almost as if in tongues worked their game of politics. Something she thought she'll never understand. _The __games __of __old __men_, she thought.

It was only about half an hour into her party when her father approached her. She knew what that meant.

"I'm terribly sorry Relena." He said in as earnest a voice as he could.  
"No need to apologize father." She said with a tone that was half sarcastic and half defeated. "I'm old enough now to understand how important your work is."

Her father leaned him and she kissed him on the cheek. "Take care, father."

As she parted from the kiss she noticed the file that her father had been carrying around all evening. Peeking out of the manila cover were several photos of the shooting stars she had witnessed from the day before when they were re-entering the atmosphere. Instantly, her mind drifted to Heero. Should she saying something? She didn't have any proof. She couldn't explain how he came to be enrolled at her school or how he ended up on the shores near the Alliance Marina. But she was sure that Heero had fallen from the sky.

The search continued for several hours before they finally found what they were looking for. Zechs sat nervously as he awaited periodic reports from the field team. He was worried about the battle that had just taken place above him. Pieces of wreckage had been detected slowly sinking to the bottom of the ocean. He had adjusted the course of his submarine to use the debris as camouflage. Still he knew, that the Gundam lurked and was probably after the same thing he was.

"Lieutenant Zechs, we have visual confirmation of the Gundam and your Leo." The ensign said over the comm. "It's amazing, there's not even a scratch on it."  
"I must say our enemy seem to have built an impressive beast." Zechs remarked with an air of fascination. "But we have it now. Let's see what we can do with this… _beast_. Alright, bring it up to the submarine, hopefully we have enough fuel to make it back to the Marina. Watch the current, I don't want to lose it when we're this close."  
"Roger."

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a blinding flash of light blinded the cameras of all three mobile armors. And just as suddenly, as death comes, as death has always come, the young ensign lost the signal of the Pisces to his right. It took him a little less than a second to tear the second one in half with its scythe.

The ensign now left on his own reacted as best he could. He flanked the black Gundam from its left and trapped its arm. Using the Cancer's free pincer, he latched onto the Gundam's face, breaking a piece of its V-fin off as he pounded round after round, hoping to subdue him. The Gundam stopped moving, it seemed to have worked.

"I think he's down." The ensign reported enthusiastically.

Little did he know…

Relena had been quiet the whole night. After an uneventful party, a few of her friends ditched their stifling formal wears, donned some jean shorts and cashmere cardigans and headed to the beach with a couple of bottles of vodka they had swiped from the bartender earlier. Their drive down to the beach had given Relena some alone time with the night sky and the empty roadways to reflect. The commotion of the day had left her in a state of frenzy and now that it was all winding to a close her deepest thoughts and fears, as they always did, started to emerge.

She could see the Alliance Marina from the road they traveled, anyone could see it from miles around. Between the Spaceport and the Marina, there wasn't much in the area. Locked between two lush hills and towering over the small seaside hamlet was the ever present war machine that was the Alliance industrial-military complex. And though war hasn't touched these shores in well over five hundred years, it remain as a symbol of Romefeller and its eternal power of this and all places of the Earth.

Here on the shores Baltic, here under the endless sea and a sky of stars, she fell into a quiet trance. As her friends danced around to the music in a typical alcohol induced night of adolescent fun while her guy friends tried, and not without some difficulty, to get a fire going, she felt distant. A million miles away from the life she had known, something inside of her was changing. She just wasn't sure what it was.

It was as if she was finally starting to see the façade, of what had once been to her, a _real __life_; her life. Now reduced to nothing but a series of events she had to attend, obligations to fulfill and even the hourless nights of neon lights, and cocktails and high heels, cute boys and expensive gifts, felt less than real. They seem to lack meaning, to lack significance, as if were only apparitions, distracting her from some deeper, more meaningful existence that she had yet known.

Still she stared into the field of stars considering many things and nothing at once and again. Thoughts ran through her head, unorganized and unchecked, where one random thought ended, five more took its place and Relena did not have the faculties to make sense of it all yet. She wondered what had triggered this melancholy. Was it her birthday? Had some come to this realization because she was now, miraculously a year older? Had her trip to space given her a perspective into a world that she did not yet understand, but more dreadfully awaited her after college? Or was it something else? Did all of this have something to do with the prince she had found washed up on this very beach just a few days ago? She stared at the spot, just several hundred meters from where they were now, where she had found him and laid eyes on him for the first time. _Was __she __thinking __of__…_

Just then as if to accent her thoughts, an explosion came from the Marina. She turned her head and caught sight of the inferno that erupted just behind her. Her friends stopped dancing. All of them stared at the billowing flames that emerged from one of the Marina's warehouses.

Relena slowly stood herself up and turned her attention to the flames.

"Heero?" She let out, almost as if she were completing her previous thought.

To be continued…

_Afterword: Yeah, in case it wasn't already made clear by the excruciatingly precise description, I fence. I actually took up fence years ago after first seeing Gundam Wing. It's kind of fucked up I know, I actually tried to be like Heero for a while. No body told me how fucked up that was until later. Still, now, I can fence, box, and ride horses. Still don't know how to pilot a mobile suit though :P._


End file.
